Judas Priest Metalogy 4CD (Box Set)

Track ListingsSecond wave British heavy metalists, Judas Priest may have been initially eclipsed by the more mainstream success of stateside bands like Motley Crue and Metallica, but the tracks collected in this box set are a testimony to how seminal the band really was to the rock canon–influencing not only Crue and Metallica, but Iron Maiden, the Cult, and countless other headbangers with their dark epics suites of rage and confrontation, blazing a scorched trail for what would become the speed/death metal boom of the eighties. Armed with a slashing two-guitar arsenal, and Rob Halford’s sneering lead vocals, Priest made the world forget that they actually lifted their name from a Bob Dylan song (“The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest”) by the time they released their second album, 1976’s Sad Wings Of Destiny, which established the band’s high watermark of artistic vision and technical acumen. Even the band’s rather unformed first album, Rocka Rolla is vastly improved by modern technology–all the tracks collected here are completely digitally remastered, and given an aural luminosity that the originals didn’t possess–but perhaps the most telling moment is the shivering heave of a song like “Beyond The Realm of Death” or the menace and virtuosity of the live version “The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown),” that makes you want to unpack the leather and chains you stashed away at the end of eighties. Also included in this package are the requisite b-sides, rarities, live performances, and the ubiquitous “lost” demo, but the real gem is a DVD of a 1982 Memphis show from the Screaming For Vengeance tour, remixed with the splendor of 5.1 sound. — Jaan Uhelszki

   Disc: 1

  1. Never Satisfied

  2. Deceiver

  3. Tyrant

  4. Victim of Changes

  5. Diamonds and Rust

  6. Starbreaker

  7. Sinner

  8. Let Us Prey / Call for the Priest

  9. Dissident Aggressor

  10. Exciter

  11. Beyond the Realms of Death

  12. Better by You, Better Than Me

  13. Invader

  14. Stained Class

  15. The Green Manalishi (With the Two Pronged Crown)

Disc: 2

  1. Killing Machine

  2. Evening Star

  3. Take on the World

  4. Delivering the Goods

  5. Evil Fantasies

  6. Hell Bent for Leather

  7. Breaking the Law

  8. Living After Midnight

  9. Rapid Fire

  10. Metal Gods

  11. Grinder

  12. The Rage

  13. Heading Out to the Highway

  14. Hot Rockin’

  15. Troubleshooter

  16. Solar Angels

  17. Desert Plains

  18. The Hellion

  19. Screaming for Vengeance

Disc: 3

  1. Riding on the Wind

  2. Bloodstone

  3. You’ve Got Another Thing Coming

  4. Devil’s Child

  5. Freewheel Burning

  6. Jawbreaker

  7. The Sentinel

  8. Love Bites

  9. Eat Me Alive

  10. Some Heads Are Gonna Roll

  11. Rock Hard Ride Free

  12. Night Comes Down

  13. Turbo Lover

  14. Private Property

  15. Parental Guidance

  16. Out in the Cold

  17. Heart of a Lion

Disc: 4

  1. Ram It Down

  2. Heavy Metal

  3. Come and Get It

  4. Blood Red Skies

  5. Painkiller

  6. Between the Hammer & the Anvil

  7. A Touch of Evil

  8. Metal Meltdown

  9. Night Crawler

  10. All Guns Blazing

  11. Jugulator

  12. Blood Stained

  13. Machine Man

  14. Feed on Me